* HOUSE AND GARDEN 
from diseased buds or at the upper part of 
lesions on the older stems at the base. The 
lighter bands on the stem lesions may 
often be nearly white. 
It would appear then that we have on 
peonies in this country a disease very sim¬ 
ilar in symptoms to one more or less prev¬ 
alent in Europe but caused by a different 
fungus. That the fungus causing the 
American disease is a botrytis there can be 
no doubt. That it occurs every year as 
a parasite on strong, actively-growing 
peonies we have repeatedly observed. That 
under especially favorable weather condi¬ 
tions it may become epidemic is a matter 
of record. We have made many inocula¬ 
tions of isolated healthy plants with pure 
cultures of this fungus and obtained the 
characteristic rotting of the buds and 
stems. 
This fungus forms sclerotia, small black, 
hard masses of interwoven cell threads 
within the diseased stems. These sclero¬ 
tia serve to carry the fungus through the 
winter. In the spring they germinate, 
sending forth numerous spore stalks which 
bear heads of conidia or spores. These 
spores formed on the old stems are in the 
immediate neighborhood of the young 
stems as they come up and so are readily 
borne by wind, splashing raindrops or in¬ 
sects to the young stalks, where in mois¬ 
ture they germinate, sending forth a mi¬ 
nute germ tube which penetrates the suc¬ 
culent tissues of the stem. This increases 
and by the secretion of a violent toxin 
kills the tissue of the stem, thus making 
available food for further growth and de¬ 
velopment. From within the dead, rotted 
tissues there are now sent forth to the 
outside, multitudes of tiny branched tree¬ 
like stalks on which are borne numerous 
conidia which are carried to the young 
buds most probably by ants which frequent 
these buds for the sweet, sticky secretion 
which covers them. Climbing up diseased 
stems the ants become dusted with con¬ 
idia and leave some behind when walking 
over the sticky buds. That ants may carry 
these spores was shown by capturing some 
on diseased plants and letting them walk 
over the surface of sterile agar on which 
we thus obtained pure cultures of the 
botrytis. 
In the secretion on the buds, in rain or 
dew these spores germinate and infect the 
bud as they did the stems. In this man¬ 
ner several crops of conidia are produced 
during the season, spreading the parasite 
throughout the plantings, and if the 
weather be moist and cloudy an epidemic 
of the disease follows. 
From what we now know of the life 
habits of the parasite the following con¬ 
trolling measures are to be suggested: 
_ First, the removal and destruction of all 
diseased parts as fast as they appear, be¬ 
fore spores are formed. The destruction 
of all tops toward the end of the season is 
especially desirable, as in this way the 
sclerotia by which the parasite is carried 
over winter and which are formed in the 
dead stems, will be destroyed. Cut the 
405 
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